Warrant details deadly struggle between officer, prisoner

NEW ORLEANS - An arrest warrant described the final actions of a officer struggling to keep hold of the prisoner in his custody, even after investigators said the prisoner shot him from the back seat of a police cruiser while on his way to Orleans Parish Prison.

Investigators said 33-year-old Travis Boys is in jail with no bond after the deadly shooting Saturday morning in which Officer Daryle Holloway died.

According to the arrest warrant, Boys had his arms handcuffed behind his back but was able to move them to his front and shoot a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson gun at Holloway from the back seat of the cruiser. Investigators are still working on how he got hold of the weapon.

Police said Holloway was shot in his right side and struggled with Boys while the car traveled down a St. Roch neighborhood street. The warrant said Boys yelled at Holloway to "let me go before you kill yourself," and the unit stopped in the 2200 block of North Claiborne Avenue where Boys was able to crawl through a window into the front seat and escape the car.

Shortly after that, the car crashed into a utility pole at North Claiborne and Elysian Fields avenues. Investigators said Holloway accelerated, likely after "losing control of motor skills" because of the shooting. He died an hour later at the hospital from his gunshot wound.

Two NOPD officers arrested Boys Sunday morning. The officers said they spotted Boys trying to get on an RTA bus at St. Claude Avenue and Forstall Street.

Boys faces first-degree murder charges along with aggravated escape and illegal possession in Holloway's death. Boys also was booked on an aggravated battery charge from an incident on Friday night in which he allegedly fired a gun at her during a domestic incident.